Tag: Psalm 148

HIS MAJESTY EXTENDS

Psalms 148 NET.

¹ Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the sky! Praise him in the heavens! ² Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his heavenly assembly! ³  Praise him, O sun and moon! Praise him, all you shiny stars! ⁴ Praise him, O highest heaven, and you waters above the sky! ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he gave the command and they came into existence. ⁶ He established them so they would endure; he issued a decree that will not be revoked. ⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea creatures and all you ocean depths, ⁸ O fire and hail, snow and clouds, O stormy wind that carries out his orders, ⁹        you mountains and all you hills, you fruit trees and all you cedars, ¹⁰ you animals and all you cattle, you creeping things and birds, ¹¹ you kings of the earth and all you nations, you princes and all you leaders on the earth, ¹² you young men and young women, you elderly, along with you children! ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty extends over the earth and sky. ¹⁴ He has made his people victorious, and given all his loyal followers reason to praise — the Israelites, the people who are close to him. Praise the LORD!

We are now into our eleventh month of reading through the Scriptures, two chapters a day. So far, we have encountered four main types of literature. We have read about the history of God’s people starting in Genesis and continuing through the historical books, ending with Esther. Along the way, we have read some of God’s instructions for his people. The LORD has taught his people how to live rightly and how to worship appropriately. In Job, we got a glimpse of another type of biblical writing: wisdom literature. Now that we are nearly finished with the Psalms, we have sampled the poetry of the Old Testament.

The author of Hebrews wrote that God spoke long ago “in various portions and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). We should not be surprised that he did so. We learn different things through different teaching methods.

Some things are best learned through experience, but that doesn’t mean we have to have the experience. We can learn from other people’s experiences. That is what history is for. We should not all have to experience loss to know that loss is painful. The lessons of the past are there to help us in the future. Learning history is not like doing an autopsy, where all you can do is discover why the death happened. Learning history teaches us how to live today, without making the mistakes of the past. It helps us make wise choices. We imitate the best options and avoid the worst choices.

However, God has not given us a mere history book in the Bible. He has also taught us principles to help us live right and doctrines to help us think right. He has taught his people how to live rightly and how to worship appropriately. He has done this in the instructional and wisdom literature portions of the books we have read so far.

Some of you have struggled with what we have been reading for the past seventy-four days. Like me, you don’t read a lot of poetry, so it is hard to figure out what is being said and why. But I hope we all have learned to appreciate the creative way the biblical poets have communicated God’s truth. Like songs, poetry is designed to help us feel what we are learning. Poems make it easier to remember the things that we are being taught.

The Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament used repetition. It said the same thing in two or three different ways to ensure that the message sinks in. It painted pictures with words to give its readers images in their minds. It took some of those same historical stories taught in earlier passages of the Bible and poetically restated them. So, we relived the crossing of the Red Sea and the conquest of Canaan through the words of the psalmist.

It took some of the same doctrines taught in the Torah and expressed them using word pictures to help us apply them to our own lives. It taught us not the mere fact that God is everywhere. It expressed that truth by talking about the feeling of having nowhere to hide from the presence of God’s Spirit.

It took some of the wisdom literature and enabled us to understand not just the fact that we should live right, but the reasons we should. It taught us that living according to God’s truth would make us like a well-watered tree that never stops producing fruit.

The poetry in the Psalms has a variety of styles. We have listened to the psalmists complain, train, and explain. We have read the Psalms of Lament and the Psalms of Ascent. Many of the Psalms in this final book (107-150) are songs of praise. They are designed to incite believers to worship and praise God for who He is and what he has done. That is what today’s Psalm is doing. Psalm 148 focuses on the majesty of Almighty God.

The LORD’s MAJESTY extends from the sky (1-6).

The poet encourages his readers to go out and look up into the sky. He is encouraging praise from God’s people, but he is not saying that if they go out and look hard enough at the sky, then they will see God. No, notice that the phrase is “Praise the LORD from the sky!” Here is what the psalmist is doing. He is telling us that a praise concert is going on right now, and it is going on in the sky and in the heavenly assembly.

Who is praising God? All God’s angels are praising him. The sun and moon are praising him. The shiny stars are praising him. The waters above the sky are praising him.

Why is this concert going on in the sky and in heaven? Because he gave the command, and they came into existence. He established them so they would endure; he issued a decree that will not be revoked.

In Genesis 1, we read that God created this expanse, which he called the “sky.” But it was empty, so he filled up all the empty spots with lights, planets, suns, moons, and flying creatures. We read elsewhere that the highest heaven is filled with angelic beings who serve the Lord and minister in his name. What we are seeing here is a picture of all these created things and created beings breaking out in song and praising their creator.

This dark world in which we live often forgets to praise God. But if we could only look up and realize that praising God is not an unnatural thing that only the intensely religious fanatics do. Praise is the regular, ordinary, typical activity of the sky and its inhabitants.

Worship is going on in the sky right now. Praise is regular for the sky beings because they recognize that their creator is worthy of that praise. The majesty of our LORD extends from the sky. His throne is there, so it is understandable that he is exalted there.

Now, the poet who wrote this Psalm is telling us that we, creatures of the land, are lagging. The LORD is our creator as well, and we should join in the celebration that began out in the sky.

The LORD’s MAJESTY extends from the land (7-14).

The poet introduces a new praise celebration. Its choir consists of the sea creatures, fire, hail, snow, clouds, storm wind, mountains, hills, trees, animals, kings and princes, young men and women, older people, and children. Everything and every person on this planet should join in the praise for the LORD.

The same creator who made an empty sky and then filled it with wonders also created an empty land and filled it with amazing things and wonderful beings. The psalmist urges all of us who are part of that creation to praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty extends over the earth and sky.

The poet includes a final line in his writing, aimed at the people of Israel. His purpose is to add just one more thought. He reminds the Israelites that they have all the more reason to praise God, because they are the people who are close to him. Other nations hear about God’s miracles, but the Israelites have experienced those miracles. They of all people should be leading the praise celebration.

But this Psalm is for us as well. Each of us can look up and see a sky full of reasons to praise our creator. Each of us can look around at the fantastic world we were born into and find a reason to be grateful to its maker. But we must also ask the question of personal application:

Does the LORD’s MAJESTY extend to your life?

God lovingly created you, but he did not go on vacation afterward. He stayed around and taught you a few things. But he was not satisfied with even that. He saw you at your worst—after sin had turned you into someone repulsive and degenerate. He could have turned his back on you and abandoned you to the repercussions you deserved. But our great God decided to redeem you.

He sent his only Son, unspoiled, untouched by sin himself. God sacrificed the life of his Son to pay the debt that you owed. Through the shed blood of Christ, you had access to the miracle of the ages – forgiveness. God, your creator, became God, your redeemer. He decided to extend his majesty to bless you in your lowliness and lift you into his greatness.

But our heavenly Father is a perfect gentleman. He will not force forgiveness on anyone who does not ask for it, and He will withhold His blessing from anyone who refuses to approach His throne in repentance. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We all need Christ’s atoning work, but the time to come to Him and request it is drawing to a close.

That is why my final point for today’s sermon is a question. I cannot answer the question for you. God is a God of glory whose majesty extends over the earth and sky. He is also a God of grace who has made forgiveness possible for whoever asks for it. But the sand in the hourglass is running out. The tickets to the great party in eternity are getting scarce.

Does the LORD’s Majesty extend to your life? It can. All that God has in store for you is available. You only have to come to him once. He is near, right now, even at the door. Will you open that door today?