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Scripture Reading: Psa. 146—150; 2:6-7; 27:4; 48:1-2; 72:8; 22:22b; Heb. 2:12b; 13:15
I. Praise is the highest work carried out by God’s children — Psa. 119:164; 34:1:
А. The highest expression of a saint’s spiritual life is his praise to God — 146:2; Heb. 13:15; Rev. 5:9-13; 19:1-6:
1. The Christian life soars through praises — Acts 16:19-34.
2. To praise is to transcend everything to touch the Lord — Rev. 14:1-3; 15:2-4.
B. Spiritual victory does not depend on warfare — it depends on praise — 2 Chron. 20:20-22.
C. We need to see that God is above everything and that He is worthy of our praise — Psa. 18:3; 1 Chron. 29:10-13; Rev. 4:1-3, 10-11; 5:6, 9-13.
II. Exodus 15:1-18 is a song of praise to God for His salvation and His victory, leading to God’s habitation and God’s kingdom:
А. Salvation is related to God’s people, and victory, to His enemy; at the time God defeated the enemy, He also saved His people — cf. Heb. 2:14-15.
B. Exodus 15:13 speaks of God’s habitation, even though the temple as God’s dwelling place was not built until centuries later.
C. Verse 18 refers to the kingdom: “Jehovah shall reign forever and ever”:
1. God’s habitation, God’s house, brings in God’s kingdom, God’s reign.
2. Today the church is first God’s house and then His kingdom; the church brings the kingdom to the earth — 1 Tim. 3:15; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:19; Matt. 16:18-19.
3. Exodus 15:1-18 indicates that the goal of God’s salvation is the building of His dwelling place for the establishing of His kingdom, and for this we, like Moses and the children of Israel, should praise the Lord — cf. Rev. 15:2-4.
III. The book of Psalms is a book of praise; in the Psalms we find the greatest and highest praise:
А. The following verses reveal crucial aspects of praise in the Psalms:
1. “O Jehovah my God, I will praise You forever” — 30:12b.
2. “Every day I will bless You, / And I will praise Your name forever and ever” — 145:2.
3. “I will bless Jehovah at all times; / His praise will continually be in my mouth” — 34:1.
4. “I will praise Jehovah while I live; / I will sing psalms to my God while I yet have being” — 146:2.
5. “Then they believed His words; / They sang His praise” — 106:12.
6. “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, / My lips praise You” — 63:3.
7. “I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; / Therefore the peoples will praise You forever and ever” — 45:17.
8. “Great is Jehovah, / And much to be praised / In the city of our God, / In His holy mountain” — 48:1.
9. “Praise befits You, O God, in Zion” — 65:1.
10. “That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion, / And His praise, in Jerusalem” — 102:21.
11. “Let the high praises of God be in their throats, / And a two-edged sword in their hand, / To execute vengeance on the nations / And punishment among the peoples; / To bind their kings with fetters / And their nobles with chains of iron; / To execute upon them the judgment written. / This honor is for all His faithful ones. / Hallelujah!” — 149:6-9.
12. “You are holy, You who sit enthroned / Upon the praises of Israel” — 22:3.
B. The praise of Jehovah in Psalms 103 — 106 issues in Hallelujahs, beginning in 104:35, because the earth has been fully recovered by God and brought under the reign of Christ in His kingdom — cf. Rev. 19:1-6; 11:15.
C. Psalms 146 through 150 — the Hallelujah psalms — are the consummate praise:
1. Psalm 146 concerns the praising of Jehovah for His reigning from Zion — v. 10.
2. Psalm 147 is a praise to Jehovah for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
3. Psalm 148 is a praise to Jehovah for His exalted name and for His transcending majesty — v. 13.
4. Psalm 149 is a praise to Jehovah for His taking pleasure in His people, Israel, and His adorning of the lowly with salvation — v. 4.
5. Psalm 150 is on praising Jehovah God:
a. This psalm is a concluding charge to everything that has breath to praise God — v. 6.
b. Psalm 150 is not only the conclusion of the Psalms — it is the consummation of the entire Bible, for the Psalms are a miniature of the whole Bible.
c. The consummate praise in Psalm 150 corresponds with the praise at the end of Revelation — Rev. 19:1-6.
D. The Psalms reveal that the Lord has turned us from the law to Christ, that Christ has brought us to the house, that He is enlarging the house into the city, and that from the city He will gain the earth; then God’s purpose will be fulfilled, and we will declare, “O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth!” — 2:6-7; 27:4; 48:1-2; 72:8; 8:9.
IV. In the church life and in our personal life, we need to offer consummate praise to God — 22:22b; Heb. 2:12b; 13:15:
А. “In the midst of the assembly I will praise You” — Psa. 22:22b:
1. The assembly here refers to the church, in which the resurrected Christ sings hymns of praise to God the Father.
2. This is the firstborn Son’s praising of the Father within the Father’s many sons in the church meetings — Heb. 2:10, 12:
a. When we, the many sons of God, meet as the church and praise the Father, the firstborn Son praises the Father in our praising; He praises within us and with us through our praising — v. 12b.
b. The church on earth today is one corporate Body with the firstborn Son of God — Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5:
1) To gain more of the firstborn Son, we need to praise the Father; the more we praise the Father, the more we gain the firstborn Son.
2) The more we sing, the more we will enjoy His singing in our singing; the best way to cooperate with Christ and to have Him work together with us is by singing praises to the Father — Heb. 2:12.
B. “Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name” — 13:15:
1. When we pass through reproach and suffering, we should continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God — vv. 12-14.
2. Since in the church life we enjoy the unchanging Christ as grace and follow Him outside religion, we should offer through Him spiritual sacrifices to God — vv. 8-10, 15:
a. In the church we should offer up through Christ a sacrifice of praise to God continually — v. 15.
b. In the church He and we, we and He, praise the Father together in the mingled spirit — 2:12b; 1 Cor. 6:17:
1) He, as the life-giving Spirit, praises the Father in our spirit, and we, by our spirit, praise the Father in His Spirit — 15:45b; John 4:24; Eph. 2:18; Jude 20-21.
2) This is the best and highest sacrifice that we can offer to God through Him — Heb. 2:12b; 13:15; cf. Hosea 14:1-3.
3. Through the Christ whom we have experienced and enjoyed, we need to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually — Heb. 1:2-3; 2:9, 17; 3:1; 4:14; 6:20; 7:25; 8:1; 12:2; 13:8, 15:
a. The real praise to the Father comes out of our experience and enjoyment of Christ in our daily life; this is a very pleasing praise to the Father, gladdening and rejoicing His heart — Eph. 3:8, 17a; John 4:24.
b. The praises out of our experience and enjoyment of Christ — the spiritual praises about Christ — are the best praise to the Father — Psa. 45:1-2; 145:1.
C. “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; / And I will glorify Your name forever” — 86:12.
D. “Jehovah will reign forever, / Your God, O Zion, forever and ever. / Hallelujah!” — 146:10.
