Psalms 89:15

What is the joyful sound spoken of here? The Hebrew word is t'ruah, the sound of a trumpet. But not every trumpet sound had this name. It took no such sound to gather the people to the door of the tent of meeting. The single blast that called the leaders together was not this one. This special sound came when the camp in the wilderness had to move. The people took down their tents, broke camp, and kept close to the sign of God's presence as it went before them or travelled among them.

This is not the announcement of the Jewish festivals in general, as is often supposed, since no such trumpet blast was blown for them. The reference is surely to the first day of the seventh month. After a pause in their feasts since the day of Pentecost, the trumpet sounded to tell the people that Tisri had begun. In that month they kept the day of atonement and the feast of Tabernacles, and from time to time they proclaimed the year of Jubilee.

The third occasion on which we read of the sound of the trumpets is "an alarm." Translators have rendered this word in Psalm 89:15 as "the joyful sound." But it was both. It was heard when the enemy was stirring. To the trained ear it was a "joyful sound": the Lord of Hosts was with His people, and no enemy could take them by surprise. But it was "an alarm" too. It roused the faithful to stay watchful against a watchful foe, and to the enemy it sounded the alarm of coming defeat and ruin.

This is a government in which the divine Ruler does not withdraw Himself from His people. On the contrary, He seeks to be known and to show Himself to them. The people who know the signal-sound — the trumpet-call that summoned Israel to attention in the wilderness — shall walk in the light of His countenance.

"To behold the face of the king" was the supreme privilege. Anyone allowed into his presence could count himself happy. "Happy are your servants," said the queen, "who stand continually before you." And again it says, "Blessed are the people who know the shout of joy: they walk, O Jehovah, in the light of Your countenance." To see the king's face is to enter his close company.

This understanding of God gives the sense of blessedness in the middle of sorrow… The heart takes hold of all this in the middle of sorrows, so that a person can be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. This gives sweet blessing to the heart of the saint. Trouble only increases it. It makes him feel how precious the faithfulness and favour of God are. It shows him that nothing separates him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The inward revelation of divine favour makes the path of sorrow full of sweetness.

So all the attributes of God will be beautifully clear in the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus. Well might we be told, "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!" Why? Because "they walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance." This will be particularly and openly true in the thousand years of peace. Yet it is spiritually true now for all who know Christ as Saviour.

Nothing can stop it! Faith recognises it and rejoices in it! "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound!" How full and free for people is the final invitation in the inspired book — "let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Revelation 22:17).