It is an amazing thought, "The LORD your God is in your midst...he will exult over you with loud singing.".

God sings!

I read an X (a.k.a. Twitter) post the other day by a brother in Christ, talking about Jesus singing, so I felt the need to pull this little write-up together around the context of God singing. It reminded me of a reference in the book of Zephaniah, and the end of all things.

What Chad wrote:

When Jesus Sings

I picture Jesus doing many things: teaching, healing, casting out demons, eating with sinners, making Pharisees mad. Typical stuff in the Gospels. And, of course, I also see him arrested, tried, executed, and resurrected. Perhaps it’s the same for you. But one activity that was a daily, certainly a weekly, part of his life that we often miss is this: singing.

Like all Jews, Jesus sang psalms and hymns (probably other songs as well). At the synagogue. In the temple. When he celebrated the Passover. While he may have sung while alone, he certainly did with his family and friends.

Singing was part of the human, corporate life of Jesus.

The preacher in Hebrews underscores this. After emphasizing that Christ, the “founder of [our] salvation, [was] made perfect through suffering,” he adds, “that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise’” (Heb. 2:10-12).

First suffering, then singing. First pain, then praising.

Hebrews is, quite fittingly, quoting from Psalm 22:22, when it speaks of Jesus singing along with his brothers, praising the name of God. I say “quite fittingly” because Psalm 22 begins with suffering and ends with singing—from pain to praise. Our Lord, in agony, cries the opening words of this psalm, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v. 1) and cries, in triumph, one of the closing verses of this psalm, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (v. 22).

The resurrection is a singing event. Who could possibly remain silent when the Son of God, once dead, now lives, never to die again? And lives for us! Our Father “has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted” Messiah, “but has heard, when he cried to him” (v. 24). And he hears us, those made alive in Jesus, belting out our Hallelujah alongside our resurrected Brother.

— Chad Bird (@birdchadlouis) August 30, 2023

In the book of Zephaniah, the prophet records:

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

The context here in Zephaniah 3 is the restoration of the fortunes of Israel, but this also includes all the Saints along with the Church at the great Supper. We read of this in Hebrews and Revelation 19, with greater detail coming from the book of Isaiah 25.

Hebrews 2:10-12

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. ¹¹ For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹² saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
    of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
⁷ And he will swallow up on this mountain
    the covering that is cast over all peoples,
    the veil that is spread over all nations.
⁸     He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
    and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

So much is said about the difficulties facing the Saints, believers in Jesus Christ, especially at the end of the world, when great tribulation will engulf the world, but we should point our minds also to the great hope and sanctuary we have in our Lord.

Hebrews 9:28

So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

אלוהים הוא טוב (God is Good)

Sources

• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zephaniah%203&version=ESV
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2022&version=ESV
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%202&version=ESV
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2025&version=ESV

Unless otherwise noted. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved..