Psalm
150 is the last of the psalms and the 5th of the Concluding Hallels.
A Hallel is a psalm of praise.
Like
the previous 4 Psalms, Psalm 150 is a call of Christ to His church to join Him
to praise the Father. It contains the words of Christ that the church must use
to teach and admonish one another by singing.
But
Psalm 150 is somewhat different from the preceding 4 psalms. For, in the
preceding 4 psalms, we are given numerous reasons and arguments to encourage us
to praise the Lord. In Psalm 150, on the other hand, no reasons and arguments
are given. We are simply exhorted to praise the LORD. 12 or 13 times in this
psalm, is the call to praise the Lord repeated.
We
say 12 or 13 times, because the first part of verse 6 is worded differently.
In any case, the psalm opens and closes with same
word—“hallelu-yah” (Hy: Wll]h) or “praise ye the LORD.” Sandwiched between are 5 couplets containing
the exhortation “hallelu” (Wll]h') or “praise.” The first couplet, begins with “hallelu-el” (laeAWll]h) or “Praise
God” (v. 1b); followed by “hallelu-hu”
(WhWll]h) or “praise him.” The rest of the couplets
comprise a pair of “hallelu-hu” (WhWll]h) each.
In
the first part of verse 6, the same verb is used, but it is used in a different
way. Indeed, the psalm appears to be intentionally structured in this way so
that there will be just 12 hallelu’s.
As one writer suggests, this 12-fold hallelu
indicates that it is the duty and privilege of the Church of Christ to praise
the LORD. The number 12, after all, is the number of the Church. With this in
mind, we may entitle this Psalm, “A
Rousing Finale to Call the Church and all Creation to Unite in a Symphony of
Praise.”
Let
us briefly consider this psalm by looking at each of the 5 couplets of
exhortation to praise the LORD.
1. The First Couplet
“Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the
firmament of his power” (v. 1)
The
sanctuary refers to the holy place in the temple. The church is the temple of
God’s Holy Spirit.
The
firmament of God’s power is heaven.
This couplet of praise is therefore a call to the
church on earth and the church in heaven, together with all the heavenly hosts,
to join our voices together to praise the LORD.
On
earth, praise is the duty and privilege of God’s people. In heaven, praise is
the delight and passion of God’s people.
Today
sin and suffering hinders us in our exercise of praise. Tomorrow, our memories
of deliverance from sin and suffering will spur us unto spontaneous praise.
But
we must not wait till tomorrow to praise the LORD. We must praise Him today on
earth if we would praise Him tomorrow in heaven. He who refuses to praise God today
may defer the exercise forever. For the desire and willingness to praise God is
a mark of the redeemed soul. Let us therefore take heed to the call to praise
the Lord. If there is no other reason to praise the Lord, is not the reason
that Christ our Redeemer has called us to do so sufficient?
But
how shall we praise? What shall we praise God for?
2. The Second Couplet
“Praise him for his mighty acts, Praise him according
to his excellent greatness” (v. 2)
Praise
the Lord for all that He has done. Praise Him for creating the universe. Praise
Him for delivering His people from the bondage of Egypt with great signs and
wonders. Praise Him for delivering you from the bondage of sin and Satan.
Praise Him for gathering us together as His church.
Praise
Him for His Word and His Providence has shown us His incomparable greatness.
There is none worthy of praise as He is, for there is none truly great as He
is.
Man
knows how to praise man. Think of the American political campaigns. The
candidates need hardly to say a word about how great they are. They have their
loyal supporters singing their praise sometimes in an unqualified manner that
if taken out of context would suggest that candidate is flawless and
over-qualified for the job! I wonder how many Singaporeans are as passionate
about our leaders. But more than that I wondered how many of us who are the
citizens of heaven are as loyal and enthused about our King and heavenly Father.
Howmany of
us will seek to glorify or have been glorifying God the way that the Americans
glorify their president or presidential candidates.
I
am not speaking about the method of course. I am speaking about our hearts,
soul, mind and strength.
God
has done great things! His greatness is beyond comparison. Man by comparison
has done nothing, and man’s greatness is temporal at best.
Oh
let us stir our hearts to remember the excellent deeds of our Great God and
King and let us extol His name earnestly from the bottom of our hearts.
3. The Third Couplet
“Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the
psaltery and harp” (v. 3)
In
Old Covenant days, trumpets, psaltery and harps were used for the public
worship of God in the Temple. They were used when the sacrifices were being
performed.
But
today, we are to make melody with our hearts and not with instruments.
Instruments, as Chrysostom says, “was only permitted
to the Jews as sacrifice was, for the heaviness and grossness of their souls.”
Chrysostom lived in the 4th century. During the 16th
century Reformation, John Calvin taught the same thing. The use of instruments
for the formal worship of God, is according to him, “no more suitable than the
burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other
shadows of the law.”
Therefore,
when we sing these words, let us not imitate the Jews and begin to introduce
instruments into our worship. Let us rather stir our heart to sing melodiously
unto our God and King. Let us be diligent to strum our heart-strings to make a
delightful sound as we offer the calves of our lips unto our great God and
King.
But
let us not stop there.
4.
The Fourth Couplet
“Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed
instruments and organs” (v. 4)
Timbrel,
organ and dance: These things were never allowed in the formal worship of God
even in the Old Covenant. There was a distinction between formal worship and
informal worship even in Old Testament times.
I
believe the distinction must necessarily continue today. What is the
distinction? The common way of looking at it is public and private worship. So
some believe that family worship need not be regulated in any way at all.
Personally,
a better way of looking at it is to look at worship as a specific and a general
activity.
Worship in the specific sense is what we do when we
gather specifically for the purpose of worship. This is what temple worship
was. This is what worship in the synagogues was. This is what Christian worship
on the Sabbath is. And I believe, this is what family worship is.
When we gather specifically for
worship, our worship should be regulated according to the Biblical principle
that whatever is not sanctioned is forbidden.
On
the other hand, there is worship in the general sense. When we talk about
worship in this sense, all our life must be worship. We must worship God in all
that we do.
Now,
when we speak about worship in this sense, the regulative principle of worship
does not apply—at least not fully. Rather, whatever is not forbidden in the
word of God is allowed so long as they are expedient and conduce to the glory of God.
I believe it
is in the broad sense of worship that verse 4 refers to. This is why it speaks
of dances, timbrel and organ. No musical instruments were permitted in the
temple, nor in the synagogue nor in any Christian church up till the 13th
century!
Yet
the psalmist teaches us to praise the Lord with dances, timbrel and organs, and
we have examples in the Scriptures of this being done outside of temple
worship.
Thus,
I believe it is not sinful for Christians to celebrate some blessings of God in
his life through appropriate dances and instruments. Now, I must qualify that I
do not know how to dance nor do I enjoy dancing at all. But I do not think it
is sin to use traditional dances as part of social or even national celebrations—even
in praise of God.
I
think, for example, of how at the Christians in Malawi would often express
their thanksgiving to God by spontaneously breaking out into singing, clapping
and dancing after they received a blessing from Him—such as when they have
benefited from a Catechism class!
But
let me include a caveat: I do not think this verse is to be taken as a command
to celebrate with dances and instruments. It suggests that dances and
instruments are not always sinful in the worship of God. It is not sinful in
general worship as opposed to specific worship. But it is not a command for us
to worship God with dances and instrument. There is simply no commandment in
regard to general worship!
As
a command, our text should rather be taken as a reminder that we should praise
and thank God joyfully.
When
we sing this verse, let us picture in our mind, the joy that the people of
Israel had after they crossed the red sea, and the joy that David had when the
ark returned to Jerusalem.
The
same is true in the 5th couplet…
5. The Fifth Couplet
“Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the
high sounding cymbals” (v. 5)
Cymbals
were allowed for worship in the old covenant. But again it is not to be taken
as a command to use instruments to praise the Lord.
It
is a call to bestir our hearts to praise the LORD. As the clanging cymbals
excited the people to zeal in their worship, so our Lord would have us to unite
our voices with Him to bestir every trembling heart to pour forth praise out of
our lips unto God. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless
his holy name” (Psalm 103:1).
Let
us praise Him with zeal and excitement rather than with mournful voices. Only
then may we be described as praising God with loud cymbals and high sounding
cymbals.
Our
worship, under the New Covenant ought to be more spiritual than under the old
covenant. But it ought not to be less fervent. While we do not have loud
clanging noise to stir our hearts, we have the Holy Spirit and the preaching of
the Gospel.
So
let us take heed to the exhortation. We can and should praise the Lord with
zeal and excitement!
But
is there anyone of us who is saying: My heart is too dull, or I am too
depressed to sing out with any excitement. Well, brethren, remember that worship
is not about you. It is about God!
Therefore
take heed to His call, pray to the Lord for strength, and seek to obey His
call. Sing out aloud, sing praises unto Him. God will be pleased with your
offering. And not only so, but be sure that the very sound of loud singing will
be used by the Holy Spirit to bring cheer to your sagging heart.
Surely
it will! For we are made to glorify and enjoy God. Christ our Lord has said:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:33). When you do as Christ our Lord has
taught us, all things including joy in the heart will be added unto you.
So
praise the Father as our Lord is calling us to do. And let us encourage and
exhort one another to praise the Lord!
Conclusion
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD”
(v. 6)
All things
ought to worship Him. Even the brutish creation ought to worship Him, how much
more should we who are the sons and daughters of God praise Him.
Let
us praise Him with gratitude in our hearts. Let us seek to make the praise of
God our chief end in life.
We
were made to glorify and enjoy God.
We
glorify Him most when we are praising Him and remembering Him in all
that we do.
We
enjoy Him most when we are praising Him and remembering Him in all
that we do.
Let
all that is within us praise His holy name. Let us praise Him when we are
gathered with God’s people in the church, or with our family to worship the
Lord.
But
let us praise Him in our day to day life. Let us praise Him when awake, when we
are talking, when walking and when working. This is what the apostle Peter
teaches us when he says:
“But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
How
do we show for the praise of Him who hath called you out of darkness? Peter
does not leave us to guess. He adds:
“11 Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,
which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among
the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by
your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation”
(1 Pet 2:11-12)
We
are to praise God not only with our lips but also with our lives. As we sing
Psalm 150, therefore let us resolve to obey our Lord. Let us seek,—individually
and corporately,—to be instruments of praise unto our Great God and King.
Let us pray that God will be pleased to magnify His
name through our lives and lips. Oh may the cosmic symphony of high praise led
by Christ and His Church redound unto the glory of God forever and ever! Amen. W
